Perhaps the most
important and enduring results of the present war will be those which
were least intended and are least material in character. This conflict
will always be remembered by Britons as that in which the British Empire
finally "found itself." That Empire, which its enemies expected to fall
to pieces in the hour of England's test and trial, will emerge from the
struggle with a greater strength and unity than could have been won by
centuries of political effort and aspiration. Mr. Bonar Law, the present
Secretary of State for the Colonies, has expressed the truth in a few
simple words:—"Our enemies said, and probably they believed, that the
outbreak of war would be the signal for the breaking up of the British
Empire. They have been mistaken. After this war the relations between
the great Dominions and the Mother Country can never be the same again.
The pressure of our enemies is welding us together, and the British
Empire is becoming in reality, as well as in name, a united nation."

It is impossible to
estimate the effect of this common experience, unparallelled in the
history of the world on the countless races sheltered under the British
flag. Englishmen, Scotsmen, Irishmen, Canadians, Australians, New
Zealanders, Newfoundlanders, South Africans, Indians and every other
race in the Empire have fought shoulder to shoulder for the same objects
and ideas. Hitherto the wars of the British Empire have been carried on
by comparatively small armies, not representing, as our armies in this
war, all classes in every community. Today the entire British nation is
fighting on the various fronts. Men of varied races are beginning to
know each other by personal contact and friendship, and those vast
contingents, when they return to their several states, will exercise a
powerful influence in promoting the spiritual and political unity of the
Empire.

When the war bugles of
the Empire sounded in August, 1914, every province sprang to arms. It
was no mere love of adventure that prompted this impulse, but a feeling
not only that the power and prestige and even the existence of the
Empire were at stake, but that the ideas of freedom and justice and fair
dealing upon which the British Empire is founded were involved in the
struggle. It may be interesting to describe in a few articles the many
forms which this loyal and ungrudging assistance of the whole empire
took. We may begin with Canada as the Dominion nearest the homeland. The
promptitude with which she prepared for the conflict was astonishing. In
less than two months from the outbreak of war the Dominion, which only
numbers between seven and eight millions of people, concentrated, armed
and sent to Europe an Expeditionary Eorce of 33,000 men. This was a
voluntary army, the first complete Division ever assembled in Canada,
and by far the largest force that ever crossed the Atlantic at one time.
This first Division was destined to do wonders. It was scarcely flung
into the furnace of war before it was called to a stern and decisive
duty. On the battlefield of Langemarck it barred the way to the
advancing Germans and saved the day for the Empire, the Allies and the
world.

But this force was only
an earnest of the fighting power Canada was to put in the field. Now,
after nineteen months of war, power has been taken by Order in Council
in Canada to increase the number of men to 500,000, and the recruiting
shows that this figure will easily be attained. Returns from several
military districts show that up to December 15th, 1915, the number of
recruits enlisted for all purposes since the outbreak of the War
amounted to 198,000 men and 7,000 officers. Exclusive of officers,
Ontario had raised 77,000 men, Quebec 24,000, the Maritime Provinces
20,000, Manitoba and Saskatchewan 37,500, Alberta 21,200, and British
Columbia and the Yukon 19,700. Canada has indeed followed the drums.
"From the workshops and offices of new cities, from the lumber camps of
her forests, from the vast wheatfields of the west, from the farms and
orchards of the east, from the slopes of the Rockies, from the shores of
Hudson Bay, from the mining valleys of British Columbia, from the banks
of the Yukon, from the reaches of the St. Lawrence, the manhood of
Canada hurried to arms."

And a glorious account
of themselves they have given and are giving on this western front. At
Neuve Chapelle, Ypres, Festubert, Givenchy and elsewhere they have built
up a record of individual and collective valour which has never been
transcended in the long annals of war. They have earned innumerable
honours and rewards from the V.C. to the " mention," and the extent to
which they have borne the heaviest brunt of the fighting is shown by the
figures of 13,000 casualties sustained down to November 30th, 1915.

But Canada's
contribution is not exhausted in these fully and splendidly equipped
contingents of all arms. It has taken many other forms. Here is a brief
table of the money raised in the Dominion for specific objects down to
the end of November :—

But there have been
also most generous and welcome gifts in kind. The Dominion sent
1,000,000 bags of flour; Alberta, 500,000 bushels of oats: Quebec,
4,000,000 lbs. of cheese; Nova Scotia offered 100,000 tons of coal, but
the gift was changed to 100,000 dollars for the relief of distress:
Prince Edward Island sent 100,000 bushels of oats, with cheese and hay;
Ontario, 250,000 bags of flour; Saskatchewan, 1,500 horses; New
Brunswick, 100,000 bushels of potatoes; Manitoba, 50,000 bags of flour;
British Columbia, 25,000 cases of tinned salmon. This is by no means a
complete enumeration, and further gifts are still coming in.

And Canada has done a
great work for the war hospitals. The Dominion Government furnished
£20,000 for the organisation and equipment of a hospital in France known
as the "Hospice Canadien."

The women of Canada
sent £57,192 as a gift, £20,000 to be handed to the War Office for
hospital purposes and the balance to the Admiralty for the Canadian
Women's Hospital at Haslow.

The Canadian War
Contingent Association in England are maintaining a large military
hospital at Shorncliffe.

The Canadian Government
have sent a handsome contribution to the Anglo-Russian Hospital.

Hospitals are being
maintained by the Canadian Red Cross.

The Provincial
Government of Ontario has provided and equipped a large military
hospital at Orpington in Kent.

And finally must be
mentioned the invaluable Canadian contribution in the manufacture of
munitions, clothing, foodstuffs, etc., for the Allied Armies. Sir Robert
Borden stated in the House of Commons on February 22nd of this year
(1916) that British purchases in Canada were much greater than most
people imagined and that large orders had been given for boots,
clothing, blankets, copper, rifles, and foodstuffs. Even submarines have
been produced in the Dominion and delivered for use, and Canada has
placed her credit to the extent of twenty millions sterling at the
disposal of the home country.

Truly all this
constitutes a wonderful record in patriotic service, and its ultimate
political effects will prove as important as its immediate and practical
utility.

NEWFOUNDLAND.

It is interesting to
recall what Newfoundland, the smallest autonomous Dominion, has done to
aid in the defence of the Empire. In the same week in which War was
declared a Patriotic Association was formed in the Colony, and the
Government undertook to increase the already enlisted Naval Reserve of
600 men to 1,000 and to enlist a further force of 500 men for land
service. Since then the naval force has been increased to over 2,000,
while the land forces compose a regiment of 1,500 strong, with others
under training at St. John's. From a colony of 250,000 people, with a
substantial emigration and no immigration whatever, this is something of
an achievement. After a period of training with Kitchener's Army, the
Newfoundland Regiment left England for Alexandria, whence they proceeded
direct to the Gallipoli Peninsula. There they bore their part in the
struggle side by side with their brothers-in-arms from Great Britain,
Australia and New Zealand, being present at Suvla Bay and at the
evacuation of Helles. They claim to have reached the nearest point to
Constantinople, namely, a hill which they captured and called Caribou
Hill. The Newfoundlanders were also the last unit to leave the
peninsula. They greatly distinguished themselves again in the early
events of the forward movement on the Western Front.

It is a source of pride
to Newfoundlanders that the men of their regiment are almost without
exception native-born. This is the first time through all the years of
its eventful history that the Colony has ever enlisted a force for
foreign service. But the call of the Empire was strong, and the loyal
response it received will have earned for Newfoundland an honourable
place in any scheme of closer imperial union which may be formed when
the War is over. It should be added that the naval force has been
largely engaged in patrolling the Dardanelles and the North Sea, and
that the Colony has also raised a Patriotic Fund of £20,000 with which
to assist the families of the soldiers and sailors now on active
service. The women of the Colony have sent £4,000 worth of comforts for
the sick and wounded and for the men in the trenches, while a valuable
gift of' aeroplanes has also been presented by this loyal and
enterprising member of the British family.

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